Indholdsfortegnelse for October - November 2025 i DestinAsian

“I WAS NOT BORN FOR ONE CORNER. THE WHOLE WORLD IS MY NATIVE LAND.”—Seneca After all my years of traveling for work and pleasure, I’ve realized that the hotels we choose have the potential to make or break any trip. On some occasions we get unlucky and things go wrong; other times the lodgings may be as captivating as the destination itself — stays that are worthy of planning an entire holiday around. These places are too good not to share. Hence DestinAsian’s annual Luxe List, handpicked by our editors with input from a dependable group of on-the-ground contributors. Our 2025 lineup includes 25 of the best new hotels and resorts in the Asia-Pacific region. These range from chic urban retreats, such as Park Hyatt Kuala Lumpur and Hyde Melbourne…

SRI LANKA Beyond his broad smile and welcoming eyes, the first thing one notices about Ajith Hettiarachchi is his feet: strong, wide, and callused from decades of scaling coconut trees barefoot. For over 35 years he has climbed as high as 15 meters to collect the sap of the coconut flower, the lifeblood of an ancient Sri Lankan tradition. At 55, he’s taken more than a few tumbles, thankfully escaping with little more than cuts and bruises — yet such are the risks that come with working as one of the island’s last remaining toddy tappers. When fermented, that sap becomes a milky-white liquid known as toddy, or raa in Sinhala. With a crisp, tangy bite and a hint of sweetness, the drink is refreshingly addictive, and once distilled, it…

From a poolside lounge at the months-old Centara Grand Lagoon Maldives, I can see flawless blue skies and coconut palms swaying above a white-sand beach. But it’s not the postcard-perfect view that has my attention. Instead, I’m fixated on the deft hands of Mohamed “Achoo” Azumoon, the young recreation attendant giving me a crash course in boduberu drumming. His movements seem effortless. “I learned to play boduberu at school,” he says. “Most Maldivians do.” At first, I struggle to mimic Achoo’s fingers and palms as they alternate between the rim and center of the goatskin drumheads, tapping them in one fluid motion. We try four different rhythms until it finally clicks. Beaming at my progress, Achoo ups the tempo and we play in unison, the hypnotic beats resounding through the…

When India’s first art biennale was announced in early 2012, the news came as a surprise to many. Not because the country would finally have a large-scale art event, but because the venue wasn’t in the usual suspects of Delhi or Mumbai. Instead, it was an unassuming southern city few associated with a thriving art scene. Formally called the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, the show raised two questions: Why Kochi? And what was Muziris? Writing in the first century b.c., Roman author Pliny the Elder described the ancient harbor of Muziris as “the first emporium of India.” Located along the Malabar Coast just north of present-day Kochi, it was a bustling trading port until fierce floods in 1341 washed it away. Kochi — once known as Cochin — eventually took its place…

For the uninitiated, the best spot in Luang Prabang to discover the joys of jeow is a place called Little Lao Culture Bar. A staple of every Laotian table, this spicy, earthy chili dip is to Laotians what sambal is to Indonesians and nam prik is to Thais. Pretty much every household has its own recipe, and the variety is staggering. At Little Lao, the menu lists no fewer than 20 jeows, all contributed by local families and ranging in heat from “medium spicy” to “very spicy” to “Lao burn.” I brave one from the latter category — jeow pak hom — to go with my nam khao, a crispy rice salad served in a lettuce leaf. Both pack a fiery punch, but the dip, a mix of green onion,…

HONG KONG Ever since Henderson Land, one of Hong Kong’s largest developers, paid a record US$3 billion in 2017 for a small but coveted site in Central, locals have speculated about the building to come. Nearby are some of the most famed high-rises in a city swarming with skyscrapers, including I.M. Pei’s iconic, 367-meter Bank of China Tower. But bigger isn’t always better. Instead, Zaha Hadid Architects was tapped to produce a sinuous 190-meter glass tower packed with art and innovation. Named The Henderson (thehenderson.com.hk), the 36-story structure — with an organic, flowing form inspired by the bud of a bauhinia flower, Hong Kong’s floral emblem — features column-free interiors with 3.5-meter ceilings and vast open floors that quickly attracted A-list tenants such as Audemars Piguet and Christie’s Asian headquarters.…

VIETNAM NAMIA RIVER RETREAT Namia is billed as the first all-pool-villa resort in Hoi An on Vietnam’s central coast, but it distinguishes itself in many other ways besides. Apart from the unique location—its 60 villas occupy a slender islet connected by bridge to the north bank of the Thu Bon River—this five-hectare bolt-hole eschews Hoi An’s usual old-town aesthetic for soft, organic forms inspired by the river and countryside. With gently curving rooflines shaped like the hull of a traditional fishing boat, villas either face the back channel with its thicket of nipa palms, or look across the river, with soft color schemes and monochrome photos that reflect their respective views. Apart from its bioclimatic design and zero-plastic policy, the resort is big on local food sourcing at its two…

THERE ARE FEW THINGS NEW YORKERS LOVE more than a comeback story, and the lavishly restored Waldorf Astoria may be one for the books. After an eight-year tip-to-toe renovation that came in at a whopping US$2 billion, the historic hotel is once again ready to dazzle a new generation. Open since mid-July, the iconic hotel, long a crossroads of style, splendor, and celebrity, has been reinvigorated for the modern traveler by architects Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and high-profile designer Pierre-Yves Rochon. I checked in for a night, curious to see if some of the magic of the property’s earlier days had also been rebottled. After a restorative 24 hours of plush Frette linens, delicious food, lively people-watching, and art deco Easter eggs galore, I had my answer: absolutely. “With a landmark…

With uninterrupted views of the Messinian Gulf on one side and the great flanks of the Taygetos Mountains behind, Ilias — a small estate near Kardamyli on Greece’s Mani Peninsula, in the southern Peloponnese — provided a picturesque backdrop for a recent painting course taught by British artist Hugo Grenville, and even inspired some work of his own. “With a day to myself before the course started, I set my easel up in the garden, where the ground was alive with the colors of sage, lavender, phlomis, and cistus,” Grenville recalls. Grounded in the English Romantic tradition and influenced by the likes of Henri Matisse, he painted the scene above, capturing the vivid floral hues of spring against the dark cypress trees and the looming central range of the Taygetos.…

By the time I arrived at The Farm at San Benito, I was running on fumes. Sleep-deprived and tightly wound from a sucker-punch combination of too much travel and excessive screen time — firstworld problems indeed — it was clear I was in dire need of a reset. Thankfully, my immersion in the lush tropical beauty of this holistic health resort, set in the Batangas countryside about a two-hour drive south of Manila, was a literal breath of fresh air. Coconut palms, banana trees, and giant fern fronds dot The Farm’s 52 jungly hectares, interspersed with serene ponds and lagoons. Gaggles of geese, ducks, and peacocks wander the grounds pecking for food. To my delight, a litter of kittens could often be spotted frolicking in the grass, charming every guest…

Set along the banks of the Chao Phraya River, the Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok has been welcoming travelers since 1876, when it opened as The Oriental, the first luxury hotel in the Kingdom of Siam. Built in the style of an Italianate villa, the original building — now known as the Authors’ Wing, seen here in the 1960s — boasted colonnaded verandas, Parisian wallpapers, and crystal chandeliers. More than a place to stay, it quickly became a crossroads of cultures and ideas, drawing kings, diplomats, and literary giants like Somerset Maugham and Joseph Conrad. The property evolved considerably over the decades, particularly with the addition of two larger wings in the 1950s and ’70s. The latter decade also saw its merger with the Mandarin in Hong Kong, creating what would become…

Flowers might struggle to bloom in the desert, but approached from some angles, Abu Dhabi’s Saadiyat Island resembles nothing less than a garden. On a sliver of land jutting into the coral-blue waters of the Persian Gulf, a range of fantastical shapes stretch skyward, vying for attention: the graceful, wing-like wind towers crowning what will be the Zayed National Museum; the slender columns of the interdenominational Abrahamic Family House; the vast latticed dome of the Louvre Abu Dhabi; and the unruly cluster of blocks and cylinders that make up the local outpost of the Guggenheim Museum. The combined effect is both dazzling and a little disorienting. Perhaps nowhere else have so many architectural styles — or creative ambitions — been so quickly concentrated in a single place. For if glitzier…